Google DeepMind Targets Pre-Year-End Launch for Gemini 4

The company is currently in the refinement phase, shifting focus away from the stalled Gemini 3.5 Pro project. Kavukcuoglu expressed enthusiasm over post-training results, promising a shift toward faster iteration cycles. This pivot follows a period of stagnation; Google has not debuted a new flagship model since the Gemini 3 series in November 2025.

Competition has intensified during this silence. Rivals such as OpenAI with GPT-6 and Anthropic with its Mythos series have set new industry benchmarks, leaving Google trailing. While CEO Sundar Pichai previously promised a June update to bridge this gap, that release never materialized. Kavukcuoglu attributed the delay to a strategic choice to prioritize smaller, efficient Flash models over the larger Pro variant. Despite the current market deficit, he remains firm in his assessment that Google will maintain its position at the technological frontier.